China to launch two critical carbon markets next week

Date

19 November 2013

BEIJING: China is reportedly set to launch two carbon trading markets next week in Beijing and Shanghai, in a bid to beef up its pollution and emission reduction efforts.

Xie Zhenhua, Vice Director of China’s National Development and Reform Commission told Reuters today that the new markets will “play a very significant role” in China’s efforts to curb its fast-growing greenhouse gas emissions.

According to Xie Zhenhua, who was speaking on the sidelines at COP19 in Warsaw, Poland, Shanghai market will launch on November 26 and is estimated to cover 100-150 million tons of CO2, and Beijing is set to go online November 28.

The provinces of Hubei and Guangdong, and the cities of Tianjin and Chongqing are also expected to launch carbon markets by the end of 2014, ahead of China’s plan to launch a nationwide market later in the decade.

Changhua Wu, Greater China Director, The Climate Group, said: “With its success in overtaking the EU-ETS earlier in the year, the Shenzhen Exchange has set an example of how to put a price on carbon in China. At COP19 this week, China has further promised climate action, and as we are now at the halfway point in the 12th Five-Year Plan period, many Chinese companies are looking ahead to see if they are able to achieve the set carbon reduction targets by 2015; the planned carbon markets offer big opportunity for business. While there are still challenges ahead for China, the regional carbon markets could set the foundations for a strong national carbon trading market that would be the biggest in the world -- and that would help transform China’s economic development towards strong, sustainable, green growth.”